Marlow railway station

Marlow railway station serves the town of Marlow in Buckinghamshire, England. It is 2 miles 54 chains (4.3 km) west of Bourne End and is the terminus of the single-track Marlow Branch line from Maidenhead.^[1]

Marlow
Looking Down towards the buffer stops and you can see an expansion junction to the bottom right of the image
General information
Location	Marlow, Buckinghamshire England
Coordinates	51.571°N 0.766°W / 51.571; -0.766
Grid reference	SU855865
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	MLW
Classification	DfT category F1
History
Original company	Great Marlow Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
28 June 1873	Opened as "Great Marlow"
14 February 1899	Renamed "Marlow"
10 July 1967	Station relocated
Passengers
2018/19	0.300 million
2019/20	0.313 million
2020/21	69,818
2021/22	0.198 million
2022/23	0.255 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

Looking West towards the Buffer Stops

A branch from the Wycombe Railway at Bourne End was built by the Great Marlow Railway; this was opened on 28 June 1873, and was worked by the Great Western Railway.^[2] The terminus was originally named Great Marlow.^[3] The branch was absorbed by the GWR on 6 August 1897.^[2] On 14 February 1899, the station was renamed "Marlow".^[4]

There was a proposal to extend the branch westwards to Henley-on-Thames, but the plan was met with local opposition.^[2]

British Rail opened the present station on 10 July 1967^[5] on the site of the goods yard of the original station. The original station was then closed,^[5] demolished and its site redeveloped.

The line was originally a branch from the Wycombe Railway route between Maidenhead and High Wycombe. When this service was withdrawn north of Bourne End in 1970, Marlow station became the terminus of the Marlow Branch Line which leaves the main Great Western Main Line at Maidenhead.

The service on the branch line is known locally as the "Marlow Donkey", which is commemorated by a local pub of the same name, although the origin of the term is unclear.^[6]

Services

Services are provided by Great Western Railway; at peak times these shuttle between Marlow and Bourne End every 30 minutes, but off-peak and at weekends they run through to Maidenhead once per hour, reversing at Bourne End. The trip typically takes 23 minutes.^[7]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Bourne End		Great Western Railway Marlow Branch Line		Terminus

Notes

1. Yonge, John; Padgett, David (August 2010) [1989]. Bridge, Mike (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western (5th ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 3B. ISBN 978-0-9549866-6-7.
2. Awdry 1990, p. 28.
3. Butt 1995, p. 109.
4. Butt 1995, pp. 109, 155.
5. Butt 1995, p. 155.
6. "The Story of the Marlow Donkey". (from Summer 2003 Newsletter). The Marlow Society. 22 April 2003. Archived from the original on 22 June 2007. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
7. Table 120 National Rail timetable, May 2016

References

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. London: Guild Publishing. CN 8983.
• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.

External links

• Train times and station information for Marlow railway station from National Rail